Review: The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an advanced copy of this book via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.  This book was published on September 3, 2019.

This book is good, it has ample twists and turns. I honestly was surprised by the reveal. Sviestrup did an excellent job leading me down one path when something else entirely was happening. My real issue was the length and pace of the book. I prefer much faster paced thrillers, and this one is very slow to build. There was alot going on in this book and it took alot of characters to get us to the reveal. Unfortunately because there were so many different plotlines happening, it took far to long in my opinion to get back to the main plotline. I felt myself losing interest in what was happening because it took so long to get there. I find this happens alot when I read Nordic Noir. If you like slow building thrillers that are a bit on the violent and grisly side give this one a go.

As I mentioned there are quite a few different characters arcs that are followed throughout this book. The main perspectives are from Hess and Thulin the two detectives assigned to Copenhagen's "murder squad'. Neither of them are very happy about their lot in life, but they are assigned to a sadistic case where the killer leaves chestnut men as his calling card. Each time they think they have the case wrapped up, something points them in another direction. Meanwhile, Social Minister Rosa Hartung has just returned from a year long hiatus after the kidnapping and assumed murder of her teenage daughter. She and her family are still working through the grief and loss, but they are trying to get back to some sort of normalcy. Rosa is attacked with stalker type messages and threats as she retakes her political position. The plotlines of the murder investigations tie in with Rosa Hartung when her daughter's fingerprint is found on the chestnut men being found at the recent crime scenes. The police find that the simplest solution will explain the prints, while her parents find renewed hope that she may still be alive. Hess and Thulin are fueled to find the killer, and possibly find out what really happened to Kristine Hartung. As the story unfolds all of the seemingly unrelated plotlines start to merge together and you realize that they we all telling you bits and pieces of a much bigger story all along.

Overall, this was a good thriller. I find that I have an interesting relationship with Nordic Noir. I usually like the plot but think the pace is too slow. I think this was well written, just too slow paced for my tastes. I think this will make an awesome movie, and given the author's success with television I won't be surprised to see this on screen one day.

View all my reviews